The present invention relates to a device and a corresponding method for measuring system resources which are used for a communication connection by a user equipment. In particular, the present invention is directed to a device and a corresponding method for measuring and comparing the requested and used resources in telecommunication services.
In recent years, the usage of mobile communication systems increases rapidly, not only for transmitting speech messages but also for transmitting data, e.g., facsimile data, video data or the like. Similar to voice communication, such data can be transmitted via circuit switched connections, which means that at least one line is occupied by the communication as long as the connection exists.
As to increase, for example, transfer speed and capacity of the existing mobile communication systems, such as a 2nd generation GSM system, several solutions are proposed. One of that is a so called high speed circuit switched data (HSCSD) solution.
Using such a HSCSD solution enables to use several time slots or channels for a single communication session. This allows to multiply the transfer rate according to the number of used channels. Advantageously, no far reaching modifications are required in the existing network structures. However, there are some new functions to be introduced in the user equipment and the network devices for combining and splitting the data into separate data streams which will then be transmitted via N full rate channels. This will be described below with reference to FIG. 2.
For establishing or modifying a communication connection in, e.g., a 2nd generation GSM public land mobile network (PLMN), there are required telecommunication services and an allocation or modifying of resources. Said services define the communication capabilities made available to users by the network. The operational and commercial features associated with the provision of the services are included in the service concept. Allocated resources are, for example, the number of used transfer channels, in particular in a data call.
The telecommunication services are divided in two categories. One of them includes transmission services, such as bearer services in GSM, which provide the capability of transmission of signals between users, independent of the form of content. In other words, they only refer to transport capabilities and not to information processing.
The transmission or bearer services provide the user with the possibility of gaining access to various forms of communication, for example information transfer between a user in a GSM PLMN and a user in a terminating network, including the same GSM PLMN, another GSM PLMN and other types of communication networks like a integrated service digital network (ISDN), via a (possible) transit network, as shown in FIG. 1.
The bearer services are described by a bearer capability information element (BCIE) described later with reference to FIG. 5, which parameters define the technical features of a bearer service. The bearer capability information element comprises for example information transfer, access and interworking attributes.
In case of a conventional speech call, when a mobile station or user equipment calls, for example, another user equipment in the same or in another communication network, first a call setup has to be performed. For this purpose, bearer services are to be requested by, e.g., the user equipment from the communication network via sending a BCIE, thereby defining which connection parameters and resources are required by the user equipment for said communication session. These parameters are checked by the network, e.g., in the mobile services switching center, and corresponding parameters and resources (at an equal level or at least at the highest available, but lower level than requested) are allocated to the communication connection. Said allocated parameters are transmitted back via another BCIE to the requesting user equipment which then decides whether to accept these parameters for performing the call or not. Therefore, it is sufficient for the network operator to identify, whether the allocated bearer services were used or not.
In case of a data call, the procedure is similar. However, there is a difference, especially for calls in a HSCSD communication session mentioned above. Although there are also bearer services and resources requested by the user equipment and allocated by the network, it is possible, that bearer service parameters and resources are allocated at a lower level than requested. For example, the user equipment requests four channels to be allocated for the communication connection, but only three channels are available (which therefore only can be allocated). However, hitherto, no possibility exists to measure if the network resources were sufficient for the requested transmission services for the call. According to the above described speech call, the network operator is only adapted to recognize whether the bearer service are accepted. However, a possible service level difference can not be recognized.
In document WO 97/12490 A, a mobile communication system and a method for establishing a data call is described, wherein available resources are allocated to communication connections.
Consequently, it is an object of the present invention to provide a device for an improved measuring of system resources, e.g., radio and hardware resources, which are used for a communication connection, in particular for a data communication connection, and to provide a corresponding measuring method which provide improved information for a network operator.
According to the present invention, this object is achieved by a measuring device for measuring system resources which are used by a communication connection in a telecommunication network, said device comprising means for receiving a request of allocation of system resources to establish said connection, said request indicating a preferred level of said resources, examining means for examining parameters indicating said requested resources, and allocating means for allocating, on the basis of the examination by said examining means, available resources indicated by parameters of the telecommunication network to the communication connection, characterized by comparing means for comparing the level of the requested resources and the level of the resources allocated by the telecommunication network, determining means for determining, on the basis of the comparison by said comparing means, whether the level of the resources allocated by the telecommunication network is lower than the level of requested resources, and outputting means for outputting a result of the determination by said determining means, if it is determined, that a lower level is present.
Furthermore, the present invention provides A measuring method for measuring system resources which are used by a communication connection in a telecommunication network, said method comprising steps of requesting allocation of system resources to establish said connection, said request indicating a preferred level of said resources, examining parameters indicating said requested resources, and allocating, on the basis of said examining step, available resources indicated by parameters of the communication network to the communication connection, characterized by further comprising the steps of comparing the level of the requested resources and the level of the resources allocated by the communication network determining, on the basis of said comparing step, whether the level of the resources allocated by the communication network is lower than the level of requested resources, and outputting a result of said determining step, if it is determined, that a lower level is present.
Advantageous further developments of the present invention are as set out in the respective dependent claims.
According to the present invention, the proposed device and/or method enables to determine not only, whether the bearer service request was successful and the allocated bearer services and resources are accepted, but also if the bearer service parameters and resources allocated by the network to the communication connection are at a lower level than the bearer service parameters and resources requested by the user equipment for the communication connection. The information obtained by this comparison of the requested and allocated parameters and resources can be used by the network operator to evaluate if an upgrade of employed hardware is required. Additionally, the present invention is usable for reaching a more accurate knowledge about used system resources. This knowledge can be used for a further statistical analysis required for network planning, network management and the like. It is possible to maintain or plan an optimized network structure with all necessary recourses without the risk of waste money or manpower for implementing new resources which are actually not needed.
Preferred embodiments of the invention are described herein below in detail by way of example with reference to the accompanying drawings.